Elevator-closing device.



" UNITED STATES PATENT (Dirricna.`

. WILLIAM ALBERT ROBINSON,`OF INDEPENDENCE, IOWA.

LEvAToR-oLoslNe DEVICE.

srncrnicATIoN forming part ofv Letters Patent No. 693,444, dated February 1e, i902'.

Application fled June 11, 1901.

To all whom it may concern' j Beit known that I, WILLIAM ALBERT ROB'- INSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Independence, in the county of Buchanan and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevater-Closing Devices,of which the follow-` ing is a s'pecication. n

n The object of my invention is to provide an elevator-closing device, and the design is' to so 'equip the elevator that the elevatoropening in the ioors will automatically close as the carriage passes up or down.'

It consists, essentially, in providing the guideways for the carriage with two crossshafts, one above and the other below the floor, each shaft having at one end a toothed gear which engages. with a rack on the carriag'e, and the other end of each shaft has a sprocket-Wheel,`aud intermediate these shafts is a similar shaft having in alinement with the sprocket-wheels on the othershaft a sprocketwheel,and midway between the ends of this latter shaft a toothed gear which engages with a vertically-movable rack-bar, to which. are hinged links that connect'with doors which swing downwardly. Chains on the sprocket-wheels transmit motion to the intermediate shaft as the carriage moves in either direction, and in order-to hold the doors in position, either open or closed,a locking attachment is provided, whichv comprises a toothed wheel on the intermediate shaft, having in engagement therewith an escapement-pawl, the coactingteeth of which-are opposite ends of the escapement-lever are connected by rods with trip-levers secured to the guideways, these trip-levers being set by fingers on the carriage, so that as the'carriage moves up the escapement-lever is' so turned before the doors are swung 'down that whenr they are in position they will be locked and thus preventedfrom swinging into the pathway of the carriage, and when the carriage again retu-rns and the doors are swung up to a horizontal position they are positively held there, all of which will now be set forth in detail.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a side view of an elevator-shaft equipped with Vother projectingv end of my closing device. Fig. 2 is a front view of serian). 64,168. (No man).

the same. Fig. 3 is a side view, enlarged, of the toothed wheel and escapement. Y Fig. llis a side View, enlarged, of one of the guideways with the sprocket-wheels and connections. A Fig. 5 `is -a vertical seotionthrough line 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a plan view of one of the floors, showing the doors in position; Fig. '7, a side View of the rack-bar, showing -thedoors swung down,

It is my design to apply the invention to any construction of elevators; butit is particularly applicable to those carrying freight and for @uses of elevators in factory buildings where the shafts are not housed in. The opening for the carriage is provided' with'a pair of doors 8, hinged, as Vat 9,to` the adjoining floor. Above the iioor the guideways 10 are joined by two cross-bars 11 12, through which is placed a vertical'bar, having midway between the ends a rack 13, and to the lower end of this rack lhinge a pair oflinks 14, the lower ends ofwhich are hinged to the ends of the doors at 15. These links are of such length and the cross-bars 11 12 solopositron,

vways 10, has centrally thereon a toothed pinion'17, which engages ywith thisrack V13,V and valongside one of the guideways is also placed on this shaft'a toothed wheel'lS, for purposes which will be hereinafter explained. ArIhe this shaft has a 'sprocket-wheel 19. hinged so as vto 'form a knife-joint, and the' j v allel shaft 20, also journaled to the guide- A short distance above'theshaft 16 isaparposts, which has a sprocketwheel'2lfin alinement with the sprocket-wheel 19,"while the '.catedthat thev doors may be permitted to other projecting end of the shafthas a pinion 22. Below the oorisa cross-shaft 23,"also journaled on the guideways, having'at one end a sprocket-wheely 24 and at the other end a pinion 25 in alinement with the pinion 22 on shaft 20. A twisted chain 26 connects the sprocket-wheels 19 24, and a chain 27'connects the wheels 19 21, so that the threeshafts 16 20 23 turn in unison, vthe two upper ones, however, in a direction opposite to the lower one.

The toothed Wheel 18 on the shaft 16 has above it an escapelnent-lever 28, centrally IOO hinged at 2S) to an arm 30, which projects from the guide-post. The pawl 3l at each end is .hinged to form a knife-joint, and each is provided with a spring 32, so that their points are pressed normally toward each other, and as the lever 28 swings on its pivot only one of the pawls can be in engagement with the toothed wheel 18 at one time. Each end of the lever has a short arm 33. The shaft 2O above and the shaft 23 below have each a lever loosely f ulcru med thereon in line with the toothed wheel 18, the short end of the lower lever 34 being connected by a rod 35 with one of the arms 33 of the escapementlever 28, while the short end of the upper lever 36 has a rod 37 connecting it with the other arm of the escapement-lever.

It will be observed that the escapement-lever is in such a position-as shown, for instance, in Figs. 3 and --that the pawl at 39 holds the doors in their closed position, since the weight of the doors acting through the toothed pinion 17 and shaft 1G tends to turn the toothed wheel in the direction of the arrow 40.

The carriage has a rack-bar 41 in line with and engaging the pinions 22 25, so that when it moves in either direction it will turn the shafts 16 2O 23 through the medium of the intermediate chains 26 27. The carriage has also in line with the fulcru med levers 34 36 a pair of hinged fingers, the upper finger 42 being adapted to engage and operate the levers 34 36 as the carriage moves upwardly and the lower nger 43 as the carriage moves downwardly, stops 44 being so placed above and below these fingers as to'permit them to operate in one direction only. It will thus be seen that as the carriage ascends and the upper finger 42 engages with the long end of the lower fulcrumed lever 34 the action is to draw down the rod 35, Fig. 5, in the direction of the arrow 45. This throws over the escapement-lever 28 by disengaging the pawl 3l on the outer side of the toothed wheel 18, and immediately the rack 41 on the car engages with the pinion 25 on the lower shaft 23, turning same and moving the chain 26 in the direction of the arrow 47, Fig. 1, thus lowering the doors and permitting the carriage to pass through.

When the finger 42 reaches the fulcrumed lever 36 on the upper shaft 20, the escapement-lever 28 is again thrown back or disengaged, so that when the rack 41 engages with the pinion 22 the shafts 16 20 23 are reversed relatively to their former movements and the doors are again closed by .the upward movement of the rack 13. 1t is obvious that the return movement of the car will produce the reverse movement relatively to the lower finger 43, acting on the fulcrumed levers 36 34 to produce the desired eect.

What I claim as new is- 1. An elevator-closing device comprising a carriage having thereon a vertical rack in combination with cross-shafts on the guideway, above and below each floor, a sprocketwheel and a pinion on each shaft, said pinion engaging said rack, an intermediate shaft having a sprocket-wheel and a central toothed pinion, and sprocket-chains connecting said wheels, and a pair of swinging doors, and links between and hinged to said doors and rack-bar, as set forth.

2. An elevator-closing device, comprising a carriage with a vertical rack thereon, a horiz'ontal shaft above and below the Iioor each shaft having a pinion at one end to engage with said rack, a sprocket-wheel on the opposite end of each shaft, an intermediate shaft having a sprocket-wheel in alinement therewith, and sprocket-chains connecting said wheels, a pair ofr downwardly-swinging doors and links hinged between said doors and rack-bar, and a toothed pinion on said intermediate shaft, an escapement-lever coacting therewith and means for operating same by the movement of the carriage, as set 3. An elevator-closing device comprising a carriage having a rack thereon, a horizontal shaft above and below each floor, each shaft having a pinion at one end to engage with said rack, a sprocket-wheel on the opposite end of each shaft, in combination with a crossshaft on the guideways having a toothed wheel, and sprocket-chains connecting said wheels, an escapement-lever coacting therewith, a fulcrumed lever above and below the floor connected by rods with opposite sides of said escapement-lever, and fingers on a carriage in engagement with said fulcrumed levers, as set forth.

4. An elevator-closin g device comprising a carriage having a rack thereon, a horizontal 'shaft above and below the floor, each shaft having a pinion at one end to engage 'with said rack, a sprocket-wheel on the opposite end of each shaft, in combination with a crossshaft on said guideways, having a toothed wheel, and sprocket-chains connecting said wheels, an escapement-lever coacting therewith, said lever having hinged pawls and springs, a fulcrumed lever above and below the floor connected by rods with opposite sides of said escapement-lever, and fingers on a carriage, the upper one of which operates the fnlcrumed levers on its upward movement and the lower finger on its downward movement, as set forth.

5. An elevator-closing device comprising in combination, a carriage with a rack thereon, a cross-shaft on the guideways above and below each floor, a pinion on one end of each shaft in engagement with said rack, and a sprocket-wheel on the other end, an intermediate cross-shaft, having thereon a sprocketwheel, and sprocket-chains connecting said wheels, a central pinion and toothed pinion on the intermediate cross-shaft, a vertically-movable rack in engagement with said IOO IIO

eentralpinion, an escapement-lever coacting Signed at Independence, in thev county of with the toothed pinion, a. lever fulcrulned Buchananand State of Iowa, this 6th day of on each of the upper and lower shafts, a rod June, A. D. 1901.

from each fulcrumed lever to the eseapement- WILLIAM ALBER'IIA` RINSON. 5 lever, and hinged fingers on the carriage in Witnesses:

engagement with said fulcrumed levers, vas E. M. THOMPSON,

herein set forth. 1 W. G. KUHRKE. 

